Deputy Prime Minister Filip Ivanović said that those responsible for the escape of Miloš Medenica, the head of the criminal group convicted in the first instance, must be sanctioned.
In the show "Sunday in the Rearview Mirror" on TV Vijesti, Ivanovic said that he was certain that this case could not go without someone being held responsible.
While the vice president and MP of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) Jevto Eraković, also a guest on the show, believes that the responsibility for Medenica's escape lies with the Police Directorate, Ivanovic said that he cannot say that the responsibility in this case lies 100 percent with one party.
The police are searching for Miloš Medenica, who was sentenced to ten years and two months in prison on January 28th, but was not found in the apartment he was not allowed to leave after the verdict was pronounced. The court, along with the verdict, issued a decision ordering Medenica to be detained.
"That case should not have happened. I expect the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Police Directorate, as they have announced, to carry out extensive actions within their bodies, to see who is responsible. But I would also expect the court to carry out appropriate measures and investigations, and to see whether there was a certain leak of information. I am distancing myself, I say 'whether there was', because there was a discussion about it in the show ('Načisto') that we are watching on the screen. Obviously, something happened and someone is to blame for it," said Ivanovic.
He said that Prime Minister Milojko Spajić will meet tomorrow with Police Director Lazar Šćepanović, Justice Minister Bojan Božović... "We'll see if there's anyone else from the security sector, I'm not involved in organizing the meeting, so I can't say," said the Deputy Prime Minister, adding that Spajić received the information he sought in direct communication.
Ivanovic said that the case of Medenica's escape cannot go without someone being held responsible.
"I'm sure. I'm not implying or insisting on some kind of political responsibility, but some direct and professional responsibility must occur. That's exactly why I said that I expect the Police Administration and the Ministry of the Interior to take action to identify who exactly is responsible for what happened, and that I expect the same from the court. Because those responsible must be sanctioned," he said.
When asked if he believes anyone will be held accountable for the failures that led to the escape of Medenica, as well as the convicted former special state prosecutor Lidija Mitrović, Eraković said: "I don't think so, accountability may be at a lower level."
He believes that there were serious failures in the security sector in the previous period. "Many citizens lost their lives, and even then no one found the strength to bear moral, professional and personal responsibility, but instead ran away from responsibility," said Eraković.
Ivanovic: It's hard to say that identity issues will be resolved this year
When asked whether identity issues - the status of the Serbian language, dual citizenship, state symbols - would be resolved until the technical process of negotiations with the European Union is completed, Ivanovic said that it is very difficult to say that these issues will be resolved by the end of this year, especially because some of these issues are "so complex and touch upon constitutional matters, and require analyses that are impossible to deliver in the short term."
"At no point did we say that we were against discussing this topic or resolving these issues. The Prime Minister clearly stated both at the Government session and before it - these are legitimate initiatives, they need to be discussed, but they do not belong in the Government, but in the Parliament," he explained.
He believes that these are legitimate topics, that they should be the subject of the broadest possible dialogue and that they should be resolved by consensus.
Eraković said that such issues can only be resolved by consensus and in accordance with the law, and that attention should be focused on those things that are for the benefit of Montenegro.
"All those who considered another country more important, and have come to their senses now, I tell you - welcome to us, just as they are welcome on this European path," said the DPS vice president.
When asked whether it would be legitimate to resolve identity issues in 2028, when, for example, Montenegro became a member of the EU and a new government was constituted, he replied:
"You know how legitimate it is? If political parties go to these elections with a stance - our programmatic goal and our task is to change identity issues, and if they get the support of citizens, of course it is legitimate. But if they come out with a different program, disguised as that idea, and then start solving those issues, then it is not legitimate," said Eraković.
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